Before We Depart
by speed and write
Summary: "I guess now I definitely have more reason to fight for you, and finish cleaning up this mess... Am I right, Katie-pie?" (AAI2 Case 3 Spoilers Ahead!)


_'Kate, would you have me as your attorney? I'm not quite the same useless kid I was 18 years ago. I won't let them find you guilty.'_

Katherine Hall bowed to everyone as she was then handcuffed and lead out of the building by Detective Gumshoe.

But before they could leave, there was something she had to get off her chest.

"Monsieur Detective…" she spoke up getting his attention. "If you don't mind, I had forgotten to say one last thing to Monsieur Shields."

Gumshoe looked at her and tilted his head, "Huh? I thought you were done, pal"

"I promise that it won't be long." she assured him, "You can still accompany me if you'd like. Please, Monsieur…"

The detective then scratched the back of his head as he realized that he couldn't win against her pleas, "Sure, pal. But it better be quick okay?"

"Thank you so much, Monsieur Detective!" She bowed to him in gratitude.

"All right then, pal"

Kate and Gumshoe went back inside the Art Gallery as everyone else was making small talk to ease the tension that was forming around Edgeworth and Judge Courtney as they talk about the P.I.C.

"Huh?" Ray was the first to notice, "What's wrong Kate? Did something happen?"

"Monsieur Shields!" Kate then quickly came up in front of the attorney, "Monsieur Shields… There is one more thing I had forgotten to say to you."

Then everyone else at the patio, turned to see what was going on.

"Oh? What is it Katie-pie?" Ray shrugged as the curator looked up to the attorney.

Kate lowered her head trying to hide her reddening face from him. "Well you see…" She spoke up then stopped. "You see, I…"

She then looked up to see the man in front of her. She remembered the first time they met. When he and his mentor were investigating about Mr. Master's case, otherwise known now as the infamous IS-7 Incident. But that was 18 years ago. Eighteen years of hard work and a single goal in mind. Eighteen years of them doing their damnedest to save him. Eighteen years of working together, visiting together, reminiscing together…

And here, today, it finally ended.

Now that she's finally been arrested for her own crimes.

But after that… what would be next?

She'd never considered that, at least until now.

She stared at Ray for a second, feeling her heart skip a beat. She smiled and leaned closer to him.

"Thank you Monsieur Shields…" She began again, "I…." She felt her voice hitch, blocking her from saying what she truly needed to.

She quickly took a step back, pondering on what she should do now.

"Kate?" Ray dropped his usual act, his face slightly turning pink, but was worried about what she just did, "Are you alright?"

"Yes!" She spoke up (way too quickly) to hide her shyness, "Yes… Monsieur Shields…"

She then resigned in a sigh to herself, as she realized what the situation was now.

Then for the final time, she looked up to the attorney once again, and smiled.

She leaned up closer to him, "Thank you…"

And gave him a light kiss on the cheek.

The gesture had the attorney frozen in place; his mind went blank as he tried to comprehend what just happened to him. As Ray realized what has just transpired in the past few seconds, his face quickly turned to a deep shade of red that would even put Edgeworth's outfits to shame. He then touched his cheek that was just kissed.

Meanwhile, Kay cheered out, "Way to go Mr. Shields!"

Gumshoe was quite shocked to see this, "Hey! Lucky you, pal!"

And Laurice-Larry yelled out in grief, "Aww man! Even Katie's got this guy! What about me?!"

Then Edgeworth shot a glare at his friend wordlessly said that he never stood a chance in the first place. But truly even the prosecutor found this scene a little surprising.

Delicia giggled at the sight, "Yessie! I knew there was something up between you two!"

Judge Courtney also chuckled in amusement, "Oh my…"

Sebastian then finally spoke up, leaning against Courtney to ask, "So, uhh… what exactly is going on?"

"K-Kate!" Ray mumbled as everyone's comments in the background fell into deaf ears.

The curator then stood back and gave him another smile to him as she herself, started to blush heavily,

"Monsieur Shields… I mean, Ray…

Thank you for everything. At least take that gesture as a token of my appreciation for all those years…" She turned around and walked towards the Detective, who was still in shock. "Thank you for your help Monsieur Detective, I shall follow you now."

"Uhh…" At the sound of her voice, Gumshoe snapped out of his daze, and was beginning to feel a little guilty for doing this now...

"Yeah sure, pal…"

"Kate! Wait!" Ray shouted before his brain could even process what he had done, "I…"

Kate turned to face the attorney, as she wondered why he would stop her now.

"I…" Ray thought of what to say. He had so much to say… But to him, it didn't seem appropriate.

For eighteen years he had loathed himself and his abilities as a lawyer. He had lost count of how many times he'd wanted to give up. But for all of those times, he'd had just as many where he'd managed to pick himself up and move on. He knew that he wasn't alone in this battle. After all, they'd spent eighteen years working hard to get this far.

Was this the end?

"I guess…" Ray sighed; he finally knew what he needed to say. "I guess now I definitely have more reason to fight for you, and finish cleaning up this mess..." he held on to his beloved hat, "Am I right, Katie-pie?"

Katherine was shocked to hear those words from him. She was already touched that he immediately wanted to defend her in court, but to then see the determination within him, and the desire to create happy ending for all of them...

"Yes, of course!" She nodded tearfully at him. "I shall see you soon… Ray."

Ray could only tip his hat at her as she was taken away.

"Finish cleaning up what mess?" Kay questioned.

The ace attorney shrugged, "It's something we kinda forgot about from 18 years ago. Don't you worry about it, okay, Kay?" And with that, he was back to his usual self, as if nothing had ever happened.

* * *

 **A few years later…**

* * *

Raymond Shields stood and waited, nervously. He paced back and forth, stared at the wall, at the table, and even at the guard until said guard tripped over himself.

"Raymond…" Jeff Master tried to assure him, "It is going to be alright. It took a while for me to be released too, after all."

Ray sighed, "You're right but… it's not just that that I'm worried about…"

"Worried?" The chef questioned. "What do you mean by worried?"

"It's nothing…" He tried to brush it off, hoping the chef wouldn't notice, "It's just something… we have to finish…"

"I see…"

Then after what felt like eternity for the attorney, Detective Gumshoe came to them, "Well, here she is, pal!"

And behind the large man was Katherine Hall, finally released from prison, having finished her short sentence.

"Kate!" Ray rushed towards her and held her delicate hands, "Oh, Kate…"

"Ray!" Kate beamed at him, relieved that the wait was finally over. "Kate, I…" he then lifted her hand and kissed it, "Shall we finish this, then Kate?" He slid his hand to his pocket to grab something, "Will you-?"

Before he could even finish his sentence, Kate swiftly leaned forward to kiss him, only not on the cheek this time, but on the lips. It only took a quick second for Ray to register everything this time and then released whatever he had on his pocket to cup her face as he pulled her closer and deepened the kiss.

Jeffrey Master was shocked by this sudden scene. While he knew that the two had deep feelings for each other, to see it unfold in front of him was a completely different experience. Nevertheless, he was overjoyed to see that they found happiness with each other.

Detective Gumshoe could just cry from seeing this. No, he is actually crying right now. Ever since he took her away to be arrested, he'd been hoping for a day like this come.

Even the guards started tearing up from the scene.

As they broke away to breathe, the two stared into each other's eyes as Kate gave him a proper answer, "Yes… of course I do!" "You read my mind…"

They then reconvened their kiss, as they finally finished what they started all those years ago.

* * *

 **AN:** Happy New Year to all! I haven't been active that much lately because of my bad slump and work getting in the way. So I'm sorry for that.

Also got back into this fandom when I was playing AAI2 (Just finished Case 3). And I just had to write this fic! Please, don't tell me I'm the only one who thought that something like this should have happened after Case 3?

Also I'd like to give a special thanks to **Yobin** from Discord for helping me proofread this! Thank you so much

Have a Happy New Year everyone!


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